Two Atlantic Canadian medtech companies have joined life sciences accelerators.

St. John's-based PragmaClin Research, which is developing technology to help monitor Parkinson’s patients, is joining the United Kingdom’s Plug and Play Health accelerator, part of an international network of similar programs. And Halifax's Myomar Molecular, which has developed a urine test to monitor muscle degeneration, is joining Emergence, the bioscience incubator headquartered in Charlottetown.

“As we initiate our regulatory journey and commercialization phase, we are looking forward to working with Emergence to speed up and facilitate this process,” said Myomar CEO Rafaela Andrade in a statement.

“We have nearly 900 people signed up for our beta tests and we are working hard to put the technology in the market.”

Myomar is working on two products: a lab-based test that involves users sending their urine in for analysis and a less precise, but more convenient at-home test. The version undergoing beta testing in Nova Scotia is the laboratory version.

Emergence, meanwhile, was originally created with a country-wide remit under a National Research Council program and now supports life science companies in Atlantic Canada. Rather than offering cohort-based programming, given the sector and timelines to commercialization, it customarily works with companies over several years.

Meanwhile, PragmaClin was created in 2020 by Memorial University PhD candidate Bronwyn Bridges and Gord Genge, a Parkinson’s sufferer.

PragmaClin co-founders Gord Genge and Bronwyn Bridges

The company’s platform uses depth-sensing cameras and a proprietary algorithm to perform remote medical assessments of people with movement disorders. Patients stand in front of a camera, laptop or other device and perform a set of prescribed movements. Then, the system records the motions and sends the data to a medical professional for assessment.

“Plug and Play UK Health Accelerator is being delivered as part of the West Midlands Health Tech Innovation Accelerator - WMHTIA which is focused on addressing the challenges of bringing new medical and healthcare technologies into the market delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with regional authorities,” said PragmaClin on social media. Innovate UK is that country’s government agency for backing high-growth companies.